BJP puts on brave face as exit polls predict rout in Haryana election

With less than three days to go for the result of the Assembly elections in Haryana, the BJP believes while it is a tough contest against the Congress, all hope is not lost.

The saffron party has been expressing confidence that it will be able to make history and form the government in Haryana for a consecutive third term.

Also read: Exit poll | Jammu and Kashmir predictions offer silver lining to BJP

Although most of the exit polls have suggested a landslide victory for the Congress, the BJP leadership believes the picture will change on October 8, when counting actually happens. After all, exit polls are known to have gone wrong.

Oozing confidence

“The contest is between BJP and Congress and I have to agree that it is a close contest," Harjeet Singh Grewal, national executive member of BJP from Haryana, told The Federal. "But we are confident that the BJP that will form the government for the third consecutive term in Haryana and the Opposition will not be able to win the polls as it is being predicted by the poll strategists.

"We are confident that the people will choose BJP and not support the campaign of Congress.”

Watch | Reading the exit polls for Haryana, Jammu-Kashmir elections

The perceived anti-incumbency against the BJP in Haryana is such that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has addressed just half-a-dozen public meetings in the state. Usually, Modi's public meetings and roadshows are the BJP's primary poll weapons, but this time, the party's campaign in Haryana was spearheaded by Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini.

Anti-incumbency

“It is possible that anti-incumbency will play a role. There has been a BJP government in the state for 10 years so obviously there will be some impact of anti-incumbency. However, we are confident that the BJP will be able to overcome this because people will be able to see through the campaign of the Congress,” Grewal added.

He further said the wrestlers' protest would not impact the poll outcome either.

Also read: Haryana polls | Cornered, BJP reaches out to farmers to reap poll harvest

“There is a lot of talk about wrestlers campaigning against the BJP. We are confident that these wrestlers who have campaigned against the BJP are political leaders, not sportspersons. I have maintained that the wrestlers will not be able to cause any damage to the BJP. We have seen numerous examples when post poll scenarios have gone wrong and the Haryana polls will be another example of it,” Grewal said.

High-stakes battle

Regardless of the confident picture that the BJP is presenting, the Haryana election has not been a cakewalk for the party leadership, thanks to the protests by farmers and wrestlers. The ongoing campaign against the Agnipath scheme of the Union government has made it tougher.

Soon after the Lok Sabha elections, when the BJP managed to get only five of 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana, it came under pressure from its partners of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to amend the Agnipath scheme for short-term recruitment for the armed forces.

While the BJP leadership has promised that the retired Agniveers, after a four-year tenure in the armed forces, will get inducted in paramilitary forces and state police, people are mostly not convinced.

Multiple issues

The ongoing demand for a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) for the farmers along with the Agniveer scheme has become a cause of concern for the BJP in Haryana. Ground reports from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of the BJP, are also not promising.

Also read: Why women leaders are giving BJP headaches in battleground Haryana

The brewing anti-incumbency was not lost on the BJP. The central leadership decided to change the chief minister six months before the Assembly elections in Haryana, replacing Khattar with Saini.

“The problem is that Nayab Singh Saini did not get enough time as the chief minister. The last six months of a government are a difficult time for any chief minister. If the BJP workers are asked, most of them will agree that six months is not enough to judge the tenure of Saini,” Grewal said.

Advantage Congress

While the BJP leadership is hopeful of a miracle, political analysts are confident that the Congress will form government in the state.

“The Haryana elections is all about farmers, wrestlers and Agniveers. The BJP will have to face the ire of people because of these three issues. Apart from the jawan (army recruits), pehelwan (wrestlers) and kisan (farmers), the BJP is also having difficulty because of infighting within the party which has disrupted the campaign of the party,” Balram Sharma, a Karnal-based political analyst, told The Federal.